Hello friends, I'm Wayne Shepherd, inviting you to listen to the following Bible teaching message by Paul Scharf. Paul is a Church Ministries representative for the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, serving in the Midwest. You'll find all of his ministry resources at sermonaudio.com slash pscharf, where he provides new content on a regular basis, including a weekly column that he writes, along with news and updates. Right now, we encourage you to follow along as we open God's word for today's presentation. It's our prayer that the Lord God will use this teaching to bring glory to Himself and to work faith in each of our hearts. Here now with the sermon is Paul Scharf. Thank you, Pastor Cliff. Thank you, Lost Pines Bible Church. It's great to be with you today. Great to be back with you again. We enjoyed, as Pastor Cliff said, an evening together back in March. How many were here that evening? All right, wonderful. Great to see all of you again. Wonderful to be here representing the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. My wife is back home in Wisconsin. Someone or two have already asked me, is it colder up there than it is here? Of course, it is by a little bit, although I guess this week is going to be pretty cool here, right? In this area. So I'm in Texas this time for about 10 days till a week from tomorrow. and have a number of ministry events here in the Houston area and then going up to Dallas in that area at the end of the week and Dan Dark from Friends of Israel who works in advancement will be here in the middle of the week to help me with with part of that and it's just wonderful to be back thank you for the invitation and allowing me to speak with you today do pray for us please in our ministry with the Friends of Israel and I'll give you a brief update about that. I gave you kind of a lengthy introduction last time I was here so I'll just update you on a few things this morning. Let me though be the first to say Happy Thanksgiving and I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday of the year and I have lots of material about Thanksgiving and the pilgrims on my web page which I'll share in just a moment. I had the opportunity yesterday morning to speak at Sugar Land Bible Church to a men's breakfast talking about the pilgrims of Thanksgiving. And I hope you'll have a wonderful and meaningful Thanksgiving season. Well, as Pastor mentioned, I know that this congregation is familiar with and friends of the friends of Israel, and we exist to share the fact that God still has a future for Israel. As Pastor said, we believe God is going to fulfill every promise he's ever made, every prophecy he ever gave about the people of Israel and to the people of Israel, his chosen nation. His people that we understand from the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament, as we call it, to be the center or the focus of his work on the earth until the first coming of Christ. We're in the church age today, but we believe God will once again work in and through the nation of Israel in the future. He has been with them from their biblical past and is with them even now in their strategic present and will be with them through the prophetic future. Here's my webpage where you can find, as I said, more about the pilgrims, but more about Israel as well. Everything about our ministry with the Friends of Israel, you can always connect with me, contact me here on sermonaudio.com slash P-sharp, my initial and last name. As I said, just to share a brief update with you this morning, as a benefit of our page on Sermon Audio, we have an app that at least we weren't aware of the last time I was with you, so I don't think I told you about it. But you can download the ChurchOne app from Sermon Audio and then plug in my name. And if you do that, you'll know what I'm going to be doing before I do. So you can really keep up with our ministry if that's something that you'd like to know. You'll have all of our latest information right there anytime on your phone. You're welcome to do that. A couple of blessings that have come about during this year and really since I was with you last. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung Jr. has added me as a broadcast partner on prophecytoday.com. He's interviewed me a few times for his radio program and airs my sermons there on his online radio station. So you can find me there as well. And also on raptureready.com, which has begun picking up my weekly column that I write. I don't think I have in the slides this time sharperiron.org, which also runs it normally on Friday each week, as I strive to keep up with a weekly column, often tying to timely events or things I'm going to be speaking, presenting on. And I certainly invite you to follow that. And a great way to keep up with all of this, which we'd love to add you into, is our weekly email, which was still pretty new when I was with you last time. We're coming up on a year with the help of a faithful volunteer who's gotten us off the ground with that weekly email. And someone already told me this morning that you get it and read it. And we are thankful for that. That would probably be a result of my last visit here. But if you don't get it yet, please sign up on our contact form on the table over here. You'll notice we have a few items. All the literature there is for you to take. And in fact, I asked Pastor if I could just leave all that literature. It might be gone before you get back if you don't take it today, but there may be some things left. I invite you to take all of it and use it. And also sign up and receive a free subscription to Israel My Glory magazine, our global outreach award-winning magazine of the Friends of Israel, which has been in publication since 1942, and has lots of tremendous information about Israel and the news, biblical articles. And by signing up, you'll receive a free subscription, but if you sign your email and give your consent, you'll also be on the Friends of Israel's email list, and our email list, and we'd love to have you do that. I also have various cards you can take on the table, and I've already shown you the front of our prayer card. Here's the back of our prayer card, and we'd love to have you, above all things, to pray for us and for our ministry with the Friends of Israel. And again, we do wish you a blessed and happy Thanksgiving. And even though that's not our topic today, I hope that the Lord will use our time together to multiply the effectiveness this year of Thanksgiving in your heart and mind, and mine as well. And we are thankful for the connection that we have with you here at Lost Pines Bible Church.